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Weather events and man have complicated the natural cycle of water use, compromising the ecological balance and hydrology of the Grand Prairie region.
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Rice fields back up to the edge of the hardwood forests in the Grand Prairie area of eastern Arkansas.
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The groundwater demands of irrigation for agriculture have been compounded by several years of natural drought, creating a greater problem below the soil's surface.
Deeper wells became necessary as shallow supplies of groundwater shrank. Three years of below normal rainfall and above normal temperatures within the region have further detracted from nature's ability to recharge its aquifers. Meanwhile, the agricultural demands for irrigation - approximately 95 percent of the region's farmland is irrigated - in addition to the water needs of industry and the local population, have increased.
As the demand for groundwater increases, many users within the Grand Prairie region are expected to exhaust economically available commercial supplies of it sometime within the next 10 to 15 years.
Without an effort to change how the Grand Prairie's groundwater resources are being used, everything this region has become - the State's agribusiness center and waterfowl Mecca - could soon face decline.
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The average temperature for October 2000 was 68.4 degrees, some 5.5 degrees above normal. This will be the third straight year with at least 80 days of 90-degree weather.
Rainfall during October 2000 totaled 0.80 inches. This is 2.82 inches below normal and about 22 percent less than what is considered to be normal rainfall to the area. It was the driest October since 1977 and the 15th driest October on record since 1879.
In 1999, temperatures were above normal for the year. The average temperature was 65.0 degrees, 3.7 degrees above normal. It was the second warmest year on record.
The warmest year on record was 1998 with an average temperature of 65.5 degrees...Rainfall was well below normal and there was no measurable snowfall.
Source: National Weather Service / NOAA.
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